United Nations (The Hawk): Wednesday's high-level ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) will be presided over by India's Minister of External Affairs, S. Jaishankar, who will advocate for restructuring the body to address the "multidimensional crises" facing the globe.
He met with the president of the general assembly, Csaba Korosi, and the foreign minister of Japan, Yamada Kenji, on Tuesday to prepare for the meeting.
Following their meeting, Korosi and Jaishankar both tweeted that they discussed UN changes.
Japan is a part of the G4, a coalition of nations led by India, Brazil, and Japan that works to reform the Council and support one another's bids for permanent seats on a larger Council.
India is utilising its authority as the Council's president in the final month of its two-year elected membership to bring the long-delayed and divisive subject directly before the Council's chamber.
"The multiple crises facing the globe today necessitate a representative multilateral architecture that is reflective of contemporary global realities and is well equipped to tackle the developing challenges," a message from India's Permanent Mission to the Council stated.
Ministers or senior diplomats from Council members will attend the briefing by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Csaba on "Maintenance of International Peace and Security: New Orientation for Reformed Multilateralism."
Jaishankar will join Guterres and Csaba in revealing a bust of Mahatma Gandhi at UN headquarters before to the Council meeting.
On Thursday, Jaishankar will preside over another notable occasion that will stress counterterrorism, another crucial problem for India.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India will try to achieve "consensus among Council Members on the broad principles of a global counter-terror architecture and aim to further build upon the Delhi Declaration," which was adopted in New Delhi in October at a special meeting of the Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee, which India chairs.
India is dedicated to ensuring their safety as the nation that has sent the most peacekeepers to the UN, and Jaishankar will form a global coalition to call for action against those responsible for attacking peacekeepers.
Jaishankar will serve as co-chair of the new Group of Friends for Accountability for Crimes Against Peacekeepers, which will also include co-chairs from Bangladesh, Egypt, France, Morocco, and Nepal.
To promote the consumption of the beneficial foodgrain for nourishing diets, India is supporting the "International Year of Millets, 2023."
Jaishankar will throw a millet-based luncheon for Guterres to draw attention to it.
India will address the issue of "What are the steps that need to be taken to ensure that the Security Council reflects the contemporary global realities, which would make it more effective in discharging its primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security" at the Council meeting on reforms, according to the note from the Indian mission.
The statement noted that the UN has grown from its original 55 members to 193 since its founding 75 years ago, but that the organisation has not kept up with how the world is evolving, with the last change in Council composition occurring in 1965 despite there being no change in the permanent membership.
Since their millennium summit in 2005, world leaders have frequently called for reforms, but little has changed, according to the report. Even a negotiation document to forward the reform debates has not been agreed.
The necessity for reforms in other UN bodies and other international organisations will also be discussed.
(Inputs from Agencies)
